When the swarm comes out, the front of the hive begins big game, accompanied by a very loud sound, by which, as well as by the abundant exit of bees from the entrance or through the slots of the gate, if it does not fit tightly, one can easily guess whether the family is chasing a swarm or is simply just playing as usual.

When the colony begins to swarm, you should not hang out in front of the hive, so as not to embarrass the queen or trample her if she accidentally falls to the ground. You need to stand aside and watch what is happening.

If the swarm has already poured out and moved completely away from the family, before the entrance of which everything was quiet, then the queen has probably already left the hive and is among the bees. The swarm unites into a cloud and, having chosen a place, makes a strong sound; At this sound, all the bees gather in one heap, and the entire swarm will settle on a branch or something else.

Since such a first-born has only one uterus, and it is fertile, heavy, most often with damaged wings, so that it cannot fly far, then clean first-borns land quickly, without flying far from the apiary. But if the fertile queen did not leave the hive at all, or, having flown out, fell to the ground in front of the hive, or fell into another place, so that the bees cannot find her, then in this case the swarm does not separate completely from the hive, but, scattered, spins around around the apiary and finally returns to his old family.

The first singer, and also every couple with young queens, such as the second, third, etc., never pours out as quickly as a pure first, but he fusses for a long time until he begins to pour out of the entrance well, but even after that still sits for a long time, not separating from the hive: so sometimes part of the swarm has already settled down, while its end is still at the point. Such a slow exit of these swarms occurs because they have several, sometimes 20 queens, from which some have already flown away, others are still rushing around at the entrance, others are spinning inside the hive, others are now just emerging from the queen cells, others are finally flying out of hive, then they return to it again.

Singers and pairs have young, light queens with healthy wings and therefore excellent fliers, as a result of which they do not land quickly, and when they land, they are usually high and far from the apiary, and sometimes, having risen up, they fly away completely.

The queen, when hatching the first one, usually emerges from the entrance in the middle of the swarm, and when she flies away, the bees pour out the thickest.

The young, barren queens emerge from the hive in different ways: some at the beginning, others in the middle, and some at the end, while others, having flown out of the hive, return to it again.

The swarm usually settles where its queen lands, but it also happens that the bees have already settled when the queen arrives. A swarm settled on a branch forms a thick heap, often with a long tail divided into several. If it sits on a flat surface, for example on a tree stump or on the ground, then it spreads out thickly and widely.

Sedala for swarms

Swarms most readily settle on bushes and densely leafed trees. If the apiary is built on hard ground, where there are no trees, then you need to plant low-growing apple trees and cherry or plum trees; bees cling to them with pleasure, and they are also convenient to collect, and besides, there are benefits from the fruits. But it is necessary to avoid tall and overly dense trees, such as wild apple and pear trees, because it is difficult to collect swarms from them, of which in this case a lot flies at once, and a lot is wasted.

It is better to cut down such inconvenient trees, because their fruits do not compensate for the losses caused through swarms.

In treeless areas, at the point, they place milestones made of some bushes or weeds in the form of a wide broom. The pole should be no higher than 107 cm, so that the beekeeper can freely move his hand over it when he has to fan a settled swarm, protecting it from the attack of another emerging one. The milestones are placed at a distance of more than 10 steps around the point, 4 cm from each other, in deep holes knocked out with a stake, so that they can be easily removed.

Instead of brooms, it would be more advisable to hang straw baskets or swarms on perches, which will be discussed now.

Caps, or swarms, for collecting swarms

Beekeepers use various swarmers to clean swarms. Some use sieves, others - sieve made of bast or shingles, sewn like a shuttle, while others use simple boxes made of bast, which are completely closed on one side, and only half closed on the other. All these swarms are hung on a rope to which a stick is attached for a hook.

These swarms are known to everyone, and therefore there is no need to describe them.

It is most convenient to collect swarms in light straw baskets, which are woven from bundles of straw no thicker than a little finger, so that they are light. They are sewn with thin wicker or bast, just as molds for baking bread are sewn. Such a basket is shown in the figure.

At the top, i.e. at the bottom, it has 22 cm, and at the bottom, i.e. in the hole, 31 cm wide in section; its height is also 31 cm. It does not hurt to have baskets of different heights - higher and lower than the indicated shape, for collecting larger and smaller swarms. As can be seen in the figure, a strong cord is tied to the side of the basket, in the middle of which there is a well-known wooden hook, by means of which the rope is hung from a fork-shaped pole if it is necessary to position the basket with its hole on one side. If there is no fork-shaped pole, then you can drive in an iron hook or tie a loop of strong cord into which the hook of the basket will be threaded. If you want to collect a swarm in such a basket, then you need to strengthen it on the forks with the hole facing up. In this case, the basket should be hung on the forks with the opening facing up; At the bottom, at the very bottom, the cord of the rope is tied with another cord to the pole so that the basket does not tilt. Having shaken off the swarm, the pole is lowered down, the aforementioned cord is untied, the basket is hung by the hook on the forks, so that it assumes a position with the hole on one side, and the swarm will be pulled in the faster. Sometimes there is a need to hang a basket with the hole down, precisely when you need to place it above a swarm that has sat high and awkwardly, so that it itself will be pulled into the basket, since there is no way to shake it off. In this case, the basket is hung on a string, and the string is tied with another string to the forks. So, this device is very simple and convenient and brings great benefits.

But usually swarmers are used to remove a swarm (length 490 mm, width 300 mm, height 220 mm).

When the beekeeper hangs such baskets in the shade between the branches of trees in the apiary and outside it, or hangs them around on poles instead of poles, protecting them with something from the sun, then the swarms are willingly drawn into them if the inner surface is rubbed with apiroi.. with apirois when The basket is rubbed with it, because it attracts bees because its smell is similar to the smell emitted by the queen. Roy, feeling the smell, mistakes it for the smell of the uterus and pulls it into the basket. It is best to hang baskets rubbed with ointment on the side from which the wind blows, since swarms usually pull mostly against the wind. The use of baskets is convenient in the sense that it does not require shaking off the swarms that themselves pull into them. Another convenience is that if, at the time when one swarm has pulled in, another one is pulling in, which we do not want to mix with the first, then the basket with one swarm can be quickly removed by hanging a new one in its place, into which this second swarm will certainly will pull in. On tall trees, baskets can be hung on a long, strong rope, which is thrown over the branches; the basket is lifted up with this rope, as if on a block, and then, when the swarm is drawn in, it is lowered; This saves time and avoids the need to climb trees. But the main convenience of baskets is that the swarms collected in them can be immediately besieged; they can be tied with a bandage through which air can freely penetrate, and, placing the basket somewhere in the shade with the hole on one side so that the swarm does not suffocate from lack of air, leave it in this position until the evening and even until the morning. Therefore, one should not rush to settle the swarm, but in the meantime, its behavior will reveal whether it has a queen or not. In this way, the beekeeper can be sure that he will not besiege a swarm without a queen, which often happens when a swarm is deposited directly from a swarm. If you need to add a swarm to another, to reinforce the latter, then you should not rush into this either, because a swarm tied up in a basket will not leave, as could happen if it were sitting on a swarm; the additive is made, depending on need, at dusk or in the evening in the dark; Thus, the bees will neither fight, nor return to their old place, and not a single swarm will die, and all this is very possible when using ordinary swarmers.

In the steppes, where there are no trees, there is even a custom that they don’t even put milestones on the saddle for swarms, but simply place empty hives or place them around; the bees, having no trees to cling to, go to the empty hives themselves. The beekeeper only observes whether there are enough bees in one or another hive, and the one in which there are already enough of them, ties it up and puts it aside, and puts a new, empty hive in its place. In this way, he catches and ties swarms during the day, and in the evening he either places them at a point or takes them to another apiary. If all swarms came out with the same queens, then there would be a single and very convenient way. In reality this is not the case. The first ones go out with the old ones, the second ones and others come out in pairs - with the young queens and go into the hive together. And we already know that such swarms do not make peace, and both queens and bees kill each other.

The very gathering of swarms

You should not rush to clear the swarm, and if nothing forces you, you need to give it time to settle down completely, because if you shake it off ahead of time, then many bees return to the old hive, and sometimes even the entire swarm rises and flies away. If another swarm descends on the swarm, when it has not yet settled, then the first one must be removed and carried away to the side so that the second one does not attack it. If he sat on a pole or in a basket, then there is nothing urgent in this, because there will be time to move him to the side when another swarm is already approaching the same saddle.

Collecting swarms in a basket

The basket hangs on a hook with the hole on one side, and the swarm usually enters and settles in the depths of it. In this case, you need to wait until all the bees have settled, and then lower or remove the basket, spread a bandage on the ground somewhere in the shade and place the basket on it with the hole down, but carefully and quietly, so as not to scatter or disturb the swarm; Next, you need to place a piece of wood under the basket on one side so that the rest of the bee can be drawn in through the gap formed, twist all four corners of the bandage and pin them to the basket with four nails; then place the swarm somewhere in the shade with a harness on its side so that there is access to air - then it will be locked in and cannot leave. The bandage should be made of very rare canvas and 2 m2 in size. It is only necessary that the bandage is not tight, otherwise a strong swarm could suffocate, and that there are no holes, because bees can escape through a very small hole. In order to later be able to find out which swarm is enclosed in the basket - the first swarm or the swarm, strong, medium or weak - there is a smooth place on the basket, covered with clay, on which everything can be indicated. Numbers or letters are used for designation. First - number 1, second - 2, etc. A large swarm is designated by the letter b, a medium one by c, and a small swarm by m. So, for example, if a large swarm is tied in a basket, then they write 61; if the average second is c2; if a small Tretyak ~ mZ, etc.

It often happens that the swarm is not completely drawn into the basket, but part of it is placed on the surface (top, side, bottom). In this case, when all the bees have already gathered, you need to place the basket with the hole down in the middle of the bandage and place a piece of wood under one edge. After this, the bees must be thrown from the surface with a wet feather onto a bandage with which they will go inside, and then you can tie the basket in the manner described above.

If the swarm has settled on a branch of a low tree or on a bush, so that it can be reached while standing on the ground or using a ladder, then you need to place a basket with the hole up, into which to shake off the swarm, and hang it by a hook on a branch or in forks, and when the bees will go inside, do as stated above.

If the swarm has settled on a tall tree, from where it can, however, be shaken off, then the basket must be placed, tying it with the hole up to the pole, and let the assistant shake it. Then you need to carefully lower the basket down, untie the lace, hang it by the hook with the hole on the side on a branch or on a fork in the shade under the same tree on which the swarm has settled, and when it has all gathered, put it on the bandage and, as explained above, tie it.

If the swarm settles on a tree trunk, from which it cannot be shaken off, or on a pole, or, finally, on a wall, where it does not sit in a heap, but is placed widely, then in this case the basket must be tied to a pole with the hole down and placed above the swarm so that so that its edge touches the bees; then the whole swarm will enter the basket itself. Such a swarm will be drawn in very quickly if the inner surface of the basket is rubbed with apyroe, and a piece of solid honeycomb is attached to the bottom using twigs folded crosswise. In addition, if the swarm does not sit high, you can grab a few bees from it with a scoop and pour them into a basket, as a result of which the swarm will immediately enter at the sound of these bees, down to a single bee. In this case, you need to have patience; do not smoke the bees, do not collect or sweep them away, but leave them completely alone for at least an hour or more; all of them will certainly go into the basket. There is no need to be afraid that the swarm will rise up and fly away, for when it sniffs the honeycomb in the basket, it will probably not fly away, but will enter there; After that, you can slowly lower it and tie it.

If a swarm has settled between thick branches at their base or in the head of an old tree, then there is no need to either collect it or smoke it, but just place a basket over it in the above manner, into which it will enter on its own without any hassle.

If a swarm has settled on a low bush, in bread, in grass, then it is best to shake it completely to the ground and place a basket over the bees or near them with the hole down, placing a piece of wood under its edge, and cover it from the sun with grass or something similar on top kind; in this way the entire swarm will be gathered to a single fly.

If the swarm has settled on the ground, on the roof, in brushwood, etc., then you also need to place a basket over it, into which it will immediately enter without lighting it.

If the swarm lands on the fence, it is collected as follows. First of all, they drive the bees with smoke to the side of the fence from which the swarm was flying, then they place the basket as close as possible to the place where the bees sit in the largest group. After this, the assistant hits the fence hard with something on the other side, so that as many bees as possible are shaken into the basket, and the rest fall to the ground. At the same moment, you need to cover the place of the fence where the swarm was sitting with a large sheet on the side from which the swarm came, and in front of the sheet hang a basket with bees on forks on its side. Then all the bees that rose and those that fell to the ground, not seeing in front of them the place where they sat, will enter the basket. If there is a group of bees sitting under the fence or on it, this means that there is a queen there. You need to dig up this pile, find the queen in it and put it in the basket; Smoke the rest of the bees and touch them with some twig, after which they will also enter the basket. They do exactly the same thing when a swarm lands on a zagat (a wicker canopy covered with straw) of an apiary; The most important thing in this case is to cover the place where the swarm was sitting with sheets, because without this it will tend back to the fence or to the zagat.

If the swarm has settled in the hollow of a rotten tree, then you need to drill holes above the hole of the hollow higher and higher and listen where the end of the hollow is, in which place they cut out a large hole over which the basket is placed; then, having plugged all the small holes, checked with a gimlet, they expand the original hole somewhat and smoke through it from below, but not suddenly, but little by little, as a result of which the bees, together with the queen, exit through the upper hole into the basket. For lighting in this case, use a bundle of linen rags, inside of which there is a little wool or hair; This is the type of smoke that bees dislike the most. Having driven out the bees, they plug the holes tightly, and leave the basket in that place until late in the evening, until all the bees have entered, after which the swarm is tied up and taken to the apiary.

General notes regarding swarming

If the swarm has poured out and separated from the old family, but does not enter any of the set baskets, but only crowds around some tree, then you need to put a basket freshly rubbed with apirois, or hang it on a hook with the hole on one side, after which the swarm itself enters this basket, and thus saves time and avoids the need for shaking.

You just need to place the basket with the hole in the direction from which the swarm came and, if possible, in the shade so that the sun's rays do not fall on it. Another swarm also very willingly draws into the basket from which a swarm has just emerged, because it smells the uterus of the previous swarm.

If the swarm has settled in a place convenient for cleaning it up, then you do not need to wait until the entire swarm down to the last bee enters the basket or swarm, but you need to remove it in advance; if only a handful of bees remain, the next swarm, as soon as it comes out, often immediately sits down in the same place. The remaining bees will not disappear - they will either join a new swarm, or, having wandered around the apiary, return to the old hive. If, on the contrary, the swarm has settled in an inconvenient place, then in order to prevent another swarm from going there, the first one must be covered on the branch with some kind of smelly potion, for example wormwood, dog chamomile, etc. You can also hang some rag soaked in tar and soaked in cabbage brine, which also repels bees. If, finally, the next swarm hurries to this inconvenient place, then you need to sprinkle it with water, after which it will sit in another place, and if you substitute a basket, it will enter it.

Before shaking the swarm off the branch, you need to sprinkle it with a little water, which makes it gather in a heap, and thus makes shaking it easier and reduces the possibility of it flying away from the apiary.

But you should not light a sedentary swarm with smoke, because smoking irritates and separates it.

Before shaking off the swarm from the branch, it is necessary to hold the swarm or basket on the side from which it pulled during the fall, and in the place where the rest of the bees fly, neither higher nor lower, and they will not go to the branch, but straight into the basket. If, despite this, the bees still go to the branch, then you need to shake the latter, not allowing them to sit on it; then everyone will gather in the basket. This needs to be addressed Special attention, because if you hold the basket on the wrong side and in the wrong place as indicated above, you will have to exhaust yourself constantly shaking off the swarm before it is finally collected. Only then, when a very small number of bees remain, can a basket be lowered or hung in the shade, into which the remaining bees will enter. You can even place the swarm on a bandage spread on the ground, under the tree on which it was sitting, placing some kind of wood on it; the bees will also gather in one heap in the basket.

If the swarm has divided and settled in several groups, as swarms sometimes settle, then you need to shake off the smaller groups first, then the larger ones, and finally the largest, all in the same swarm, except for those cases when small swarms are required: then they are collected separately.

The swarm, which has its own queen, sits calmly on the swarm and gradually gathers into one heap; if the bees do not sit quietly, but constantly rush about, then they do not have a queen, and then a swarm needs to be formed as soon as possible, otherwise it will go to its old place.

When the swarm has already completely settled on a swarm or in a basket, then you do not need to keep it for a long time in the place where it is collected, but settle it on a swarm or pole, or tie it in a basket, because when it begins to fly around, the bees that have flown around will They will no longer go to where the swarm is later settled, but will begin to return to the old hive.

If you need to keep a swarm tied in a basket until the evening, then you need to place it somewhere in a dark place or at least in the shade so that the sun's rays do not fall on the bandage, because the bees, tempted by the light, will begin to gnaw in the bandage - especially if it is not strong enough - the holes and, once freed, will fly away.

It happens that a beekeeper, arriving at the apiary, finds the swarm already sitting on a branch and does not know which hive it came from. And sometimes, if there are two apiaries at close range and the swarm goes unnoticed, a dispute arises between the owners about who owns it. In such cases, it is not difficult to track down which hive the swarm came from. Having collected this swarm, you need to take a few bees from it into some pot or box, tie it with a scarf and place it somewhere cool; the swarm itself must be besieged according to its belonging. In the evening, after sunset, when the bees have already settled down and there are few of them flying, it is necessary to release the above-mentioned bees into the wild; not knowing where their swarm is located, they will immediately go to the old hive and, having seeded the entrance, begin to flutter their wings. When viewing hives, these bees indicate the hive from which the swarm came.

If the swarm has recently emerged, then in front of this hive there will be bees and drones that have fallen and have not yet risen.

The exit of the swarm from the hive

In Western Siberia, as a rule, in the middle, less often the beginning of June, worker bees lay 6-14 queen cells, in which they raise young queens by special feeding. It would seem that one, two or three queens are enough, but the bees breed more, because misfortunes often happen to the queens. For example, during the mating flight they face many dangers (birds, insects, etc.). It is easier for bees to destroy several extra queens than to get one missing one at the right time.
With the first sealed queen cell, a swarm (primary) emerges. About half the colony flies out of the hive. Bees are heavily loaded with honey, which they take with them as provisions on a long journey. How much food they take with them can be judged by the following figures. In 1 kg there are 11,000 bees flying out of the hives for a bribe; flying into the hive with a weak bribe - 9000; those flying into the hive with a strong bribe - 8000; those who gained honey when smoking - 7300; came out with a swarm - 6500 pieces. These loaded bees jump out of the entrance and begin to circle in the air around the hive. After half the swarm of bees have risen into the air, and more and more are hastily flying out of the hive, the queen can be seen emerging. She, as a rule, runs along the landing board to the edge, rises into the air and flies around the hive along with the bees. Swarms with fertile queens fly for a short time and quickly take root on a tree branch not high from the ground. With infertile queens, they fly for a long time, choosing a place, and often take root on the top of tall trees. On a tree, the swarm hangs around the queen in a large cluster.
In an apiary where deciduous trees grow, swarms, as a rule, land on bird cherry, willow, birch, yellow acacia, apple tree, and very rarely on aspen and poplar. Among coniferous trees, bees prefer fir and spruce. Swarms can land not only on trees and shrubs, but also on fences, poles, tall grass (burdocks, bushes and even wormwood).
While the swarm is sitting, the beekeeper must quickly remove it, otherwise it will fly away. Most often, swarms with young queens fly off. Scout bees diligently search for a suitable hollow or empty hive for a swarm and sometimes find them in a distant apiary. If the scout bees do not find a home, the swarm will still fly away: on a hot day - after 10-30 minutes; on a cool day, swarms that fly out of the hive at 12-15 o'clock often spend the night, and in the morning, when the sun warms up, they fly away.
The swarm can fly all day. If he doesn’t come across a dwelling on the way, then he grafts (sits) on a tree or grass and spends the night, and on the second day he continues to fly. Sometimes swarms fly for three days. Exhausted, they land on a person, cart, combine, etc., where an untired swarm usually does not land.
In the hive, after the first egg flies out, a young queen emerges eight days later. She tries to destroy her sisters, but the bees won’t let her in, so the next day a swarm of second bees emerges. In the evening before the hatchling, you can hear the queens singing. The emerging queen walks around the combs and makes “thump-bye” sounds, and the queens in the queen cells “croak.” The next day the family swarms. During the turmoil that arose when the swarm emerged, young queens jump out of the queen cells and join the swarm, so that there are often several queens in the second queen, but then they fight and only one remains in the swarm.
A day later, the second swarm is followed by a third. The fourth and fifth (sometimes) come out one after another daily. After the nest has been built, the first bird can swarm itself; this swarm is also called a swarm.
The bulk of swarms with old queens leave from 10 to 14 o'clock; swarms with young queens fly away at different times. In Western Siberia, the first swarms emerge in early June, and mass swarming continues until mid-July. The latest swarms fly away at the end of August, after the end of the main harvest. Usually they happen when beekeepers plucked queen cells after 6 days, and in August they stopped plucking, believing that there would be no more swarms. At this time, families, having received freedom, swarm.
In order to avoid swarms of the second one and subsequent ones, it is necessary to stop swarming by destroying, except for one, all the queen cells. One queen cell must be left, otherwise the family will end up without a queen.

The family that releases the swarm is called the maternal family. A new family that separates from the mother family from the moment of departure to landing in the hive is called a swarm. The emergence of swarms occurs on a warm sunny day, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The first swarm when the swarms emerge is the first one. With a fertile, overwintered queen, the swarm emerges on the second or third day after the queen cells are sealed. Young queens will replace the old one that flies out with the swarm and will be born in 5-7 days. These days there is no queen in the family. There are only queen cells. On the day the swarm emerges in the morning, you can notice how the strong colony seems to have become quiet, the bees fly out and return less energetically. Usually around 12-13 o'clock in good weather the bees begin to fly out and circle above the entrance. Their number increases every minute, and soon a mass flight begins. The bees very hastily run out of the entrance en masse and rise into the air. Many bees do not have time to take off and, under the pressure of the rear ones, fall to the ground and already take off from it. The swarm flies out, making a characteristic ringing noise. Drones trumpet especially noticeably. The noise made by the flying swarm can be heard 40-50 m from the swarming hive. The emergence of swarms lasts 4-5 minutes. The uterus emerges in the middle of emergence (in time). The emerging bees circle above the hive, quickly fly off to the side in a thick cloud and land (graft) on a branch, bough or tree trunk. The first swarm with the old queen does not fly far from the hive, since the queen in it does not fly quickly. Usually he sits no further than 15-20 m from the maternal family. The emerging swarm quickly gathers towards the queen thanks to her aromatic secretions, which are felt by the bees even at long distances. In windy weather, the swarm sits low - on a currant or gooseberry bush, on a fence post, or even just on a bush of grass.

The swarm, grafted onto the selected site (scion), calms down after 10 minutes and sits or hangs quietly in a cluster. There is no need to rush to remove him to the army. Typically, a swarm that flies out at 12 o'clock stays until 15-17 o'clock, until the scout bees select a suitable place for a new nest. But as soon as the bees on the scion calm down, they are put into a swarm or box, having first been sprayed with water from a broom or syringe, so that they gather more tightly on the scion and to make it more convenient to collect them in the swarm.

If the swarm hangs in a cluster on a branch or on a tree branch, place a swarm box under it and shake it into the box with a sharp blow to the branch, cover it with a lid or canvas, leaving a small (3-4 cm) gap. If the queen is in the box, then the bees that did not get there during shaking will enter the left gap. The box with bees is kept close to the scion site - hung on a tree branch, or placed on a stand (stool), or placed on the ground under the scion.

If the swarm has taken root on a tree trunk or fence post, the bees are carefully collected with a wooden spoon and placed in a box covered with a lid. They try to take a spoon from the place where the bees are thickest, in order to capture the queen bee with the bees. When the queen is in the swarm box, the bees will go to her through the left gap.

Having placed the box not far from the scion, on which there are still many bees, the latter are disturbed with smoke, shaken off, and they move over - they fly into the box to the queen. If a swarm has taken root in a currant or gooseberry bush, then the box is placed on the ground or on a stand (stool), close to the swarm with an open gap in the box, and on the opposite side the bees are carefully disturbed slightly with smoke, and they will quickly all enter the swarm box themselves .

In order to facilitate the collection of swarms, special scions are made (one for every 20-25 families in the apiary). A frame is prepared from willow twigs about 10 mm thick in the shape of a truncated cone with a height of 500 mm, a diameter of 250 mm at the base and 50 mm at the top. The cone is covered with polished canvas, preferably dark in color, so that the frame is on the outside, and the polished side of the canvas is inside the cone. The top of the cone is tied to a light pole about 3 m long so that the cone hangs base down. The length of the pole is made such that the graft attached to its end, when the pole is placed vertically, rises 30-50 cm above the apiary vegetation (apple trees, berry fields, etc.). With low vegetation, the length of the pole may be less. On the days when swarms emerge, the outside of the scion is sometimes rubbed with lemon balm leaves and placed vertically on the ground. The emerging swarm lands inside and outside the scion. The graft with the bees is removed from the pole. The bees are shaken into a hive box or directly into a pre-prepared hive.

If there is vegetation at the point - apple trees, bushes or ornamental plantings, then the swarm very rarely lands on the proposed scion. In this case, they use it like this: as soon as the swarm begins to emerge and there is a fair number of bees in the air, the scion is brought to them and kept in the thick of the flying bees, which will quickly begin to gather in it, after which the scion is strengthened in a stationary position and the entire swarm will gather on German If the swarm has begun to graft onto a tall tree, then the scion is placed near the bees so that the base of the cone is at the level of the top of the club, then the bees will gradually enter it. In such an apiary you need to have a fairly long pole.

The collected swarm is closed in a box and placed in a cold place until the evening - until 20-21 hours. After 30-40 minutes, you need to listen to how the swarm sits and determine whether it has a queen. If there is a queen, then the bees sit quietly, even inaudibly. If for some reason there is no queen, which sometimes happens, the bees make a lot of noise and try to get out of the box. In this case, you need to inspect the scion site, where you can find a queen with a bunch of bees; inspect the ground in front of the entrance of the maternal family, where you can also sometimes find an unflying queen. She is taken into a cage and given to the swarm like this: the cage with the queen, without opening the box, is placed on the ventilation mesh of the swarm box so that the bees can communicate with the queen through the mesh. After 15-20 minutes, the swarm will calm down, and then, opening the box slightly, the cage with the queen is quickly placed inside it with the bees. If the queen is not found either on the scion or near the maternal colony, then the box with the swarm is taken out of the apiary, it is opened and the bees are given the opportunity to fly out and return to the maternal colony, which they will do very quickly and amicably.

It sometimes happens that the swarm that fled out began to inoculate, but soon returned back. This means that the queen could not take off when the swarm departed and, after walking along the arrival board, returned to the hive. In this case, the swarm will fly out the next day.

The queen can take off with the bees of the swarm, but, unprepared for flight, falls to the ground and gets lost and dies. In addition, the queen is sometimes lost when a swarm is collected into a swarm. In these cases, the swarm will return and fly out on the ninth day with a young barren queen. Before its departure, the singing of queens will be heard. Such a swarm is called a singing first.

It happens that on the day intended for the emergence of swarms, in the morning it will be bad weather, and after 15-16 hours it will become good - sunny, then the swarm can fly out at 16-17 hours. This remark applies to all types of swarms.

The first swarm has a peculiarity - it contains a fetal uterus. In the family formed from this swarm, laying eggs and raising brood immediately begins. After 21 days, the number of bees will begin to increase rapidly, and the colony will be ready to use honey collection. Second swarm. It flies out from the maternal colony with a young barren queen on the ninth day after the first swarm emerges (in Central Russian bees - on the tenth day).

Often, inexperienced beekeepers believe that there may not be a second swarm. This blunder. This usually happens if the beekeeper has not taken action. sends preventing it, and weather conditions will not interfere. After the first swarm has emerged from a family, it contains up to 10 (for southern breeds - up to 50) sealed queen cells. 8 days after the first swarm emerges, a young queen is born. Along with her, the family also has several queens that are ready to emerge from the queen cells. The queen runs on the honeycombs and tries to kill the queens that are sitting in the queen cells. The bees do not allow her to do this. She periodically makes clearly audible melodic sounds “tu-tu-tu”. The queens, sitting in closed queen cells, respond to her with the same sounds, only more dull, through the walls of the queen cells. This roll call is called queen singing and occurs on the eve and on the day of the release of the second swarm (as well as all other swarms that fly out with young barren queens). The queens' singing can be clearly heard if you put your ear to the wall of the hive. It is a definite sign that a swarm will emerge from the family the next day.

The second swarm, like all swarms with barren queens, is less demanding on the weather; it can fly out on days when the sun is sometimes hidden in the clouds. In addition, it flies quickly and well with young queens, sometimes moving up to 100 m away from the maternal family and often flies into tall trees.

The most mature queens, in the turmoil of the emerging swarm, emerge from the queen cells and fly out with the swarming bees. Therefore, often several queens emerge with the second swarm. Often such a swarm settles in two or three places, each place with its own queen, but usually the swarm settles in one place, having several queens. The beekeeper, when collecting a swarm, in most cases does not know about the presence of several queens in it. Within 5-6 hours, while the assembled swarm is in the swarm box, the queens meet and all but one, the strongest, die in the fight. The swarm, grafted in different places, is collected into one swarm, and after 5-6 hours only one queen remains in it. Such a swarm can be collected into different swarms in order to preserve all the queens in it for the organization of nuclei and layering, as well as to replace old queens in other, non-swarming families.

The peculiarity of the second swarm is that it contains a barren queen, which will begin laying eggs no earlier than 10-12 days after the swarm is planted in the hive. Family growth will begin only after 30-35 days.

You can easily remove a family from a swarm state so as not to weaken it and maintain its efficiency in the current season.

It happens that in the turmoil of the emergence of the second swarm or the singing first, young queens emerge from the queen cells (there are up to 7-8 of them). Some fly out with the swarm, while others remain with the mother family. In the next day after the queen swarm emerges, not all of them will meet in a fight, and there will be not one, but several of them in the family. Then a third swarm may emerge from this family. This is more likely if the emergence of the second swarm was delayed by one or two days due to bad weather.

Roy is the first singer. If the bee colony is in a swarming state, then on the second or third day after the swarm queen cells are sealed, the first swarm emerges with an old fetal queen. It happens that during its release the uterus died - it was lost. This may happen for the following reasons:

• the old queen flies poorly and, leaving the hive, flew a little and fell to the ground somewhere in the apiary, and the bees and the beekeeper could not find her;
• During the removal of the swarm, the queen was damaged and she fell to the ground or, when shaken off the scion, she fell and could not take off.

In these cases, the swarm, finding itself without a queen, will return to the maternal family. Sometimes they say: “it will suit the old man.” In the maternal family there are swarm sealed and open queen cells. On the ninth day after an unsuccessful flight, the swarm will fly out again, but with a young, barren queen. Before its departure, the singing of the queens will be heard, this will be the first swarm with a young barren queen - the singing first. It flies out at the time designated for the departure of the second swarm, and in a state of queen cells that corresponds to the emergence of the second swarm.

To withdraw bee family from the swarm state, before the departure of this swarm, they do the same as before the departure of the second swarm, that is, on the seventh day after the unsuccessful departure of the swarm with the old queen, all the queen cells are removed, except for one, the best, and on the eighth and ninth days the family is listened to for singing queens If there is no queen singing, this means that swarming in this family is over. If we hear the queens singing, then we need to open the hive and remove the queen cells that are there, missed during previous inspections.

The peculiarity of the first song is that the bees that were supposed to fly out with the first swarm fly out, as well as those bees that were preparing to fly out with the second swarm. There are more bees in it than normal - as if there were two swarms. If measures are taken to eliminate the swarming state of such a family by removing the queen cells before the flight of the first songbird, then take into account that there are many swarming bees in the family and they need to additionally be given 3-4 frames with foundation and an extension - a body or magazine. When the swarming state passes, the volume of the hive is adjusted to the number of bees in the family.

Roy with a fistulous uterus. In June, July and even at the beginning of August, in a good, normal colony, sometimes the queen is suddenly lost (perhaps the beekeeper, while examining the colony, crushed it, or during the inspection it fell to the ground, or the beekeeper removed it to replace it). Finding itself without a queen, in 3-4 hours the colony will lay fistulous queen cells on the existing larvae and testicles, while some of the queen cells will end up on two-day-old larvae, the queens from which will emerge before others. A swarm condition will occur. The queens will be heard singing, and a swarm will emerge from one of the older queens.

We must assume that this queen will not be good, and therefore it must be destroyed. The next day, all the queen cells in the family should be removed, except for one, the best and youngest in age. If there is an unsealed queen cell, then it should be left.

The next day (keep the swarm overnight in Roevna), take the queen from the swarm and release the bees into the mother colony.

Dump swarm. During swarming season, two or three or more swarms can emerge simultaneously. As a rule, all swarms are grafted into one place. Such a swarm is called a dump swarm. Bees and queens mingle. Sometimes between the grafting swarms some space is formed in the form of a jumper between the clubs. In such a swarm there can be fertile and infertile queens. When swarms fly out, the beekeeper tries to track which hives they fly from and immediately record the numbers of these families. You need to know which families swarmed in order to properly work with swarming families. If it was not possible to trace from which families the swarms flew, then do this: in the evening, put a handful of bees (50-100 pieces) with a spoon into a glass or half-liter jar, sprinkle generously with wheat flour, shake, release, and they will fly to the mother’s family - to her tap them and are discovered by their whiteness from flour.

The dump swarm can be collected in several boxes, focusing on the moment a new swarm approaches the already sitting bees. In this way, it is possible to preserve separate swarms with queens. If in such a swarm fertile and infertile uteruses meet and enter into a fight, then, as a rule, the fertile uterus dies. When such a swarm is collected into several boxes, the box filled with bees is placed not far from the scion on the ground and a small gap is opened in it. If there is a queen in the box, the bees will not leave it. It can be closed and taken to a cool, dark place. If the queen is not there, then the bees will immediately and quickly fly out of it to the scion, while some of the bees will return to the maternal colony. If there are several queens in the box, then when planting in the hive you can find only one necessary live one and the extra queens killed.

Often, a dump swarm, if it is not very large, is collected in one box and made into a good large family - a honey cake. After the bees of such a honey cake are worn out during the honey harvest and the colony returns to normal, it is taken care of as usual.

During the swarming period, when many colonies in the apiary have entered a swarming state and the weather is good, swarms can fly out prematurely - under the influence of the noise of swarming bees and from colonies in which the queen cells are not yet sealed.

The organization of the honey bee community is such that not a single individual on its own is capable of creating a new family. Therefore, nature made sure that honey bees increased in number through the reproduction of families. During the process of reproduction, a swarm led by the queen bee separates from the family and flies away from its native nest in search of housing. In beekeeping, this process is called swarming of bees.

It is not known for certain whether swarming is an innate bee instinct, or whether the prerequisites for it appear during the life of the insect. At the same time, over the long history of beekeeping science, researchers have found that the swarming process is subject to strict rules:

1. Bee swarming includes a constant set of successive phases of the swarm state.
2. In order for swarming to come to its logical conclusion - the departure of the swarm, it is necessary to go through all its phases.
3. The swarm process does not rely on a specific time frame. Thus, from the very first signs of the maturation of swarm moods in the family, and until the swarm queen cells are filled with eggs, varying amounts of time may pass.

Periodization of swarming

The swarm compartment is the tip of the iceberg called swarming. It is based on long-term preparation of the colony, which begins long before the bees separate.

The first stage, and main feature swarm mood in the family - intensification of the cultivation of drone larvae. A newly hatched family cannot do without pre-bred males. The queen's sowing of drone cells is her way of realizing her desire to reproduce. From the moment drone brood appears in the colony until the appearance of swarm queen cells occupied with eggs, usually no more than 3 weeks pass.

The following changes are observed in the hive: if previously preference was given to preparing the bee cells of the honeycomb, now the bees are working on the drone cells. At the same time, they continue to fly to honey collection and raise brood.

Gradually, the need to care for young larvae disappears, because the queen, preparing for swarming, continuously reduces the rate of oviposition. Many young bees, not busy with work, appear in the nest.

After a couple of weeks, the amount of brood drops to a critical minimum: for each larva there are about 2 nurse bees. Due to an overabundance of royal jelly secreted, insects begin to feed it to each other. As a result, worker bees gain fat mass and acquire the ability to lay eggs (however, they are not able to fertilize eggs, and only drones emerge from them). They lose their working skills, stop flying for honey, caring for the hive and building honeycombs. So, a period of active swarming begins in the family.

The main sign of the second phase of swarming is the laying of swarm bowls. If an excellent honey appears at this time, the bees may stop swarming, preferring to store honey reserves for the winter. In such cases, the queen cells are simply destroyed.

If the bribe is only enough to support life, the bee colony is idle. Such bees sit or hang on the walls of the hive, clinging together in groups resembling bunches of grapes. These individuals do not wear themselves out with hive work and honey collection, and therefore remain physically strong and healthy. The bees will use up their reserve forces when the swarm emerges and settles into a new home.

Detection of uterine platters

Immediately before laying eggs in swarm bowls, bees actively use feeding. Beekeepers indicate that 8-10 days before the swarm emerges, insects consume more food, creating reserves for the future young colony. This is how the 3rd phase of swarming begins - laying eggs in swarm queen cells, with the help of pressing the queen to the edges of the combs, directly to the swarm bowls, encouraging her to lay eggs.

To outline options for a future home, a week before the swarm departs, scout bees begin search flights.

If a beekeeper carefully monitors his pets, he can see that after laying eggs in bowls, the queen finally stops laying eggs. The queen's retinue disintegrates; accordingly, no one else supplies the uterus with nutritious royal jelly, and she is forced to switch to honey food. The results of such a “honey diet” are a sharp decrease in weight and a reduction in the abdomen. Having become lighter, the queen can fly again (during oviposition, the queen gets fat and does not fly), and, accordingly, leads the swarm to a new place.

The exit of the bee swarm

9 days after the eggs are laid in the swarm queen cells, the first swarm separates from the colony. Bee swarming can be disrupted by bad weather, rain, or gusts of wind. In this case, he will fly out a few days later.

A few minutes before departure, swarming bees become very excited, swirl in the hive, performing the so-called “swarm dance,” buzzing and attracting as many insects as possible to the swarm. Gradually increasing the pace of this “dance”, the bees push the queen out. At first there are few insects in the swarm, but gradually their number increases, and the swarm hangs over the hive like a huge black cloud, emitting the characteristic sounds of a low buzz, clearly audible even from several meters away.

Before departure, the bees fill their crops with honey, in case housing is not found immediately. The stock in the goiter is enough for about three days.

The first swarm can be grafted onto a branch of the nearest tree for the first time. The “swarm cluster” does not hang on the tree for long – a maximum of 2-4 hours (rarely several days). To quickly find a home, scout bees, who were already looking for a new “apartment” even before the swarm departed, estimate the distance to the intended place of residence and notify the others in which direction to fly. Insects determine with amazing accuracy the volume of future housing and choose high, roomy hollows with the entrance facing east or southeast, located near water.

Exiting and catching a swarm of first creatures

The swarming of bees provokes the disintegration of the colony into two approximately equal parts. The swarm is formed from young, strong flying individuals and a small number of drones. Its weight is about one and a half kilograms.

The swarm moves at a speed of 20-23 km/h. Moreover, if it has already left its temporary parking place, it is almost impossible to catch it, because it flies at an altitude of 2 to 5 meters.

Varieties of swarms

There are several types of swarms:

• pervak;
• second;
• flogging;
• forced swarm;
• dump type swarm.

The first swarm is the first group of bees that flies out 9-10 days after laying eggs in the swarm queen cells.

The second swarm appears 9-10 days after the first one emerges. This swarm activity is explained by the fact that before laying eggs in swarm bowls, the queen was actively worming, and young bees had already emerged from the eggs laid at that time, that is, a divided family can almost instantly restore its strength.

If the first swarm prefers to fly to a new place of residence under the leadership of the fetal queen, then the secondary swarm is removed from its place after the first barren queen emerges from the queen cell. In addition, the second swarm is already less gentle and sensitive to the weather, and can fly away even in the rain.

If the swarming of bees is not completed and the colony is still excited a couple of days after the second bee has flown out, then a third swarm will fly. This formation does not exceed 300-500 grams in weight and is of no value in terms of using it as a new bee colony. Their practical use– strengthening weak bee colonies and creating nuclei. All swarms after the first and second are called swarms.

When the swarming mood ceases, the bees allow the queen to kill all her rivals. Having discovered gnawed queen cells in the hive, the beekeeper identifies this as a sure sign of the end of swarming and the beginning of normal work.

A swarm is a formation of several swarms grafted into one place. A swarm consists of different families, which contributes to long-term confrontation between insects (different families have different smells, and bees react sharply to this). As a result of the struggle between the queens of different swarms, only one queen remains, who will lead the family.

Forced swarms are families that leave their hive as a whole to avoid starvation. Their emergence can be observed in early spring, when there is practically no bribe in nature yet, and the insects are on the verge of death.

Dump Swarm Review

So, swarming can be beneficial only in the early stages of apiary development, when the beekeeper does not have the funds to buy bee packages, or he is just an amateur who wants to experiment with bee breeding. Professional beekeepers know firsthand how many difficulties uncontrolled swarming brings. Families in a swarm state become ineffective in terms of honey collection. In addition, swarming bees require enhanced and vigilant control: you must constantly monitor the phases of this process, find swarming queen cells in time, and be close to the apiary in order to catch the swarm “in the act.”

To prevent such waste of time and productivity of the apiary, beekeepers provoke artificial swarming of bees. Using this technology, you can control the process from start to finish, increasing the number of winged workers without harming the volume of the harvest.